Category Archives: vampires

Beth mentioned elves and witches in her comment on Vamps and Weres. This got me thinking.When I came up with the idea for The Veil, I wanted to incorporate every supernatural being I’ve always been fascinated with. The bestiary (I hate to call it that, but well…that’s what it is) of beings in The Veil is long and growing. I’ve listed Elves, Fairies, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Nymphs, Vampires, Werefolk, Dryads, Satyrs, Angels, Demons, Dwarves, Sirens, Amazons, and I’m pretty sure there’s another one…what is it…*sound of head thumping into the desk* oh! Succubi, and Incubi. That should be it. Oh and the ‘humans of extraordinary abilities’ like witches, warmages, aura seekers, etc.So, when I made up this world, I had to seriously think about what rules each race was going to have to follow, because there has to be rules. For instance, some of my races can only produce children of one sex. Some of my races can only have one lover (those poor nymphs), while other races are notorious bed hoppers. Now, just because I have all of these races, it doesn’t mean that every race is going to get a book. Right now I’ve got the Vampire and Amazon book finished and am working on a Halfling (succubus/weretiger) and Werewolf story. I’m not sure which of my characters is going to demand a story, but I have a feeling it’ll be a new race I haven’t mentioned here. The point I’m trying to make (and probably not doing a good job of) is that putting your own spin on these beings is all about what you want them to do. Do you want your vampires to drink blood or drain emotional/mental energy. Do you want your elves to be like traditional elves, or funky and flighty? What about fairies? Are they the little beings who flit about on wings, or can they be humanoid and eat more than twice their own weight? There are so many endless possibilities that I don’t think they’ll all be touched, no matter how many paranormal books come out. If there is one thing you’d like to change about one of your favorite supernatural being, what would it be? I’ve decided that succubi and incubi aren’t demons. They’re just like normal people but with extraordinary sexual prowess, pheromones that drip from every pore, and they live in either Pleasure Houses or Sin Dens. On a completely different note. I’m so glad it’s Friday that I’m totally beside myself.

Well, it sounded good when I thought it up. It has absolutely nothing to do with this blog, by the way. Well, maybe in a way. I remember taking a quiz several years ago when I first began reading the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter books. The quiz was something along the lines of are you a vampire, shapeshifter, or something else (I can’t remember now). I came up shapeshifter. I had to give this some thought. Is it better to be a shapeshifter/weretype person than the always cool (pun intended) undead? Let’s think about this in terms of pros and cons:According to well-known vampire lore, vampires are susceptible to crosses, silver, holy water, sunlight, garlic, stakes through the heart (but what being ISN’T susceptible to this?), can’t enter where they aren’t invited, have a very strict diet of blood (hello! I hate to diet!), and I’m sure there’s another one I’m missing.Now, look at shapeshifters (werefolk as I like to call them because I don’t think they should JUST be wolves). Werefolk change during a full moon, have to dodge silver bullets, might have to shave more than the average human, don’t have a restrictive diet, and that’s about it unless there’s some lore I’m not aware of.That’s it! I mean c’mon…okay, okay I didn’t mention the pros:Vampires are so popular everyone and their mama is running around with fangs and goblets. (This could also be labeled as a con if you’re nonconformist…which is really funny if you think about it since they want to be vampires because they’re nonconformist…I’m shutting up.) They live forever unless they get a tan, a stake through the heart, shot with silver, eat some garlic, or get doused in holy water. They always have the coolest names. They’re considered schexy (just like Sean Connery cause the older they get, the better) and they generally have servants willing to do anything for them.Werefolk aren’t as popular unless you’re talking about werewolves. They can live a somewhat normal life as they aren’t always furry. They have the strength and abilities of their animal half (which is really cool cause I always wanted to be a cat…preferably a tiger or jaguar. Thundercats was the best cartoon of my childhood.) They don’t live forever as far as I know, but they live longer than humans do. They have a certain (yes, I’m going to say it) animal magnetism, muhuahaha. They can come in any form: wolf, tiger, lion, dragon, etc. They aren’t restricted by diet or time of day. To me, werefolk have it hands down. Don’t get me wrong I think vampires are cool, otherwise I wouldn’t like writing about them, but weres just come in more shapes and sizes which means they’re almost an equal opportunity supernatural group. What do you think? Which would you rather be? Keep in mind that I’ll probably blog about witches and demons and angels and others at a later date.